Comments on: “Twilight fades through blistered Avalon…” Fate/Stay Night’s Fate route

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:55:20 +0000

@Ghostlightning: I really enjoyed that part of the story – it’s a great to see the character development at work there. And yeah, this is totally Owen’s fault…fortunately I’m going through a period of no socialising for the next few weeks, so something like this that occupies a lot of my free time is perfect. I’d recomment this VN wholeheartedly but only if you don’t have any social engagements planned in the near future!

By: ghostlightning

ghostlightning — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 02:37:18 +0000

I too enjoyed playing through Fate, unexpectedly so. I blame Owen. Shirou’s painful to be around, especially when it has to do with Saber, but I really really enjoyed their date.

Here’s a guy who has never gone on one before, just doing his darndest to try to please someone who has no idea how to have fun, and is oblivious to almost everything that’s being done for her.

I found that set of scenes scene a more convincing display of feeling, and is a suitable apology for the crazy bravado Shirou consistently displays to keep Saber from fulfilling her function, if not her destiny (though the narrative hedges by introducing the ’sheath’ symbolism/mechanism).

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:53:48 +0000

@Owen S: the limitation of the TV series, and all VN adaptations I guess, is condensing the threads into one narrative. In this case it lost focus: Saber didn’t feel like *the* central character, Rin’s tsunderisms weren’t explained enough and Sakura just kinda hung around in the background. Shirou also came across as really indecisive when surrounded by all those girls at once, but in the Fate route he’s more single minded about his feelings and more admirable for that.

The H-scenes aren’t a big deal for me really since they’re more often than not gratuitous but when they’re more meaningful it feels as though the writer is going to a bit of extra effort, which deserves a bit of credit. I did need to go for a quick cold shower afterwards though…if it can stop even me thinking clearly it must be doing something right.

@IKnight: my experience with erotic literature is pretty much nonexistent but when a scene like this crops up in a novel it says more about the author’s preferences than anything. How these characters know so much about what they’re doing does suggest that Japanese schools have a better sex ed syllabus than ours do!

By: IKnight

IKnight — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:59:28 +0000

I felt the sex was unconvincingly good and unconvincingly varied, but I’m not an authority on the subject.

By: Owen S

Owen S — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:06:41 +0000

I wasn’t as fascinated by Saber in the TV show but when the events are geared towards portraying events from her and Shirou’s point of view I had a much clearer picture of her circumstances and personality so felt for her predicament much more keenly.

This was actually a significant grouse of mine with regards to the TV series, and one reason why I wasn’t really taking it seriously–that it would go from a first-person view to a third-person one, and that instead of ‘things happening to me’ it would become ‘things happening to Shirou’. That innate connection with his character is, I feel, an significant part of the series.

You’re probably going to like the way Heaven’s Feel portrays the sex, considering your reaction to Fate’s scenes.

All in all, I’m glad you’re finding F/sn an enjoyable experience, and I can’t wait to see what you think of the later routes, now that you’re going to be venturing into new territory.